Harsher Revenge Awaits Perpetrators of Gen. Soleimani’s Assassination – Iran’s Shamkhani

By Staff, Agencies

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani warned that harsher revenge awaits the perpetrators of the attack that killed senior Iranian anti-terrorism commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions.

In a post on his Twitter page on Wednesday, Shamkhani said that US President Donald Trump had admitted that the American, upon his direct order, committed the crime of assassinating General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC], and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units [PMU] counter-terrorism force, who were two prominent figures of the anti-terrorism campaign. 

“The two Iranian and Iraqi nations are avengers of blood of these martyrs and will not rest until they punish the perpetrators,” read part of the tweet.

“Harsher revenge is on the way,” it concluded.

The two commanders and a number of their companions were assassinated in a US airstrike near Baghdad airport on January 3, as General Soleimani was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital.

Both commanders were extremely popular because of the key role they played in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ‘ISIS/ISIL’] terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

In retaliation for the attack, the IRGC fired volleys of ballistic missiles a US base in Iraq on January 8. According to the US War Department, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike. The IRGC, however, says Washington uses the term to mask the number of the Americans, who perished during the retaliation.

Iran has also issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining Trump, who ordered the assassination, and several other US military and political leaders behind the strike.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday Iran will never forget Washington’s assassination of General Soleimani and will definitely deliver a “counterblow” to the United States.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will never forget this issue and will definitely deal the counterblow to the Americans,” Imam Khamenei stressed while receiving visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran.

“They killed your guest at your own home and unequivocally admitted the atrocity. This is no small matter,” Imam Khamenei told the Iraqi premier.

A UN special rapporteur has condemned the US assassination and said Washington has put the world at unprecedented peril with its murder of Iran's top anti-terror commander.

Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also warned that it is high time the international community broke its silence on Washington’s drone-powered unlawful killings.